DOJ report alleges Biden-era misuse of FACE Act in abortion cases

The Justice Department on Tuesday put the FACE Act at the center of a new abortion and law-enforcement battle, releasing a report that accuses the Biden-era department of weaponizing a law meant to protect access to clinics and houses of worship. The report, from the DOJ Weaponization Working Group, said it reviewed more than 700,000 internal records and claimed the prior administration used federal power unevenly in politically charged cases.

The FACE Act, enacted in 1994 and signed by President Bill Clinton, bars force, threats of force and physical obstruction aimed at people seeking or providing reproductive health services, and at places of religious worship. DOJ’s Civil Rights Division says it has brought more than 15 FACE actions in more than a dozen states, underscoring how often the statute has been used as a civil-rights tool in disputes over abortion access and protest conduct.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Biden-era Justice Department created a “two-tiered system of justice” and cooperated with pro-abortion groups including the National Abortion Federation, Planned Parenthood and the Feminist Majority Foundation. The report also says the current department has already taken corrective steps, including civil settlements and personnel actions, as President Donald J. Trump issued full and unconditional pardons on January 23, 2025, to people his administration described as unfairly targeted under FACE.

The dispute lands at a moment when abortion access has become more dependent on state law after Dobbs, and when federal enforcement choices have become part of the political fight itself. Supporters of the new report argue that FACE was turned into a selective weapon. Critics say that claim overlooks the broader enforcement record, including Biden-era actions that also targeted attacks on pregnancy resource centers and other anti-abortion facilities, not just clinic blockades.

Recent DOJ reproductive-rights cases show that pattern in practice. The department’s archive includes a January 16, 2025 Texas FACE guilty plea, a June 14, 2024 guilty plea announcement in Florida and a December 20, 2024 conviction in another Florida case involving pregnancy resource centers. In Manhattan, Bevelyn Beatty Williams was sentenced to 41 months for violating FACE in connection with interference at a reproductive health center, while in Florida Gabriella Oropesa was convicted in a conspiracy targeting employees of pro-life pregnancy help centers.

The larger question now is whether the new report marks a durable shift in how the federal government will read and enforce FACE, or another turn in a long-running fight over who gets protected when clinic protests cross the line.